How to eat dim sum
Elsa Eats
by Elsa Lee
1y ago
Cantonese pronunciations are used throughout this article as this is the dialect I speak and the dialect used in Hong Kong the most. What is yum cha and dim sum? Yum cha 飲茶 means literally to “drink tea”, a term originally coined when eating dim sum was akin to having bar snacks with your drink. It is commonly referred to now as the act of going to a place to eat dim sum. Dim sum 點心 literally means “touch of the heart”, which is the perfect name used to describe these small plates of food which warm the heart. As well as dim sum, you can also order bigger plates of food, such as rice or noodle ..read more
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Where did Kue Lapis come from?
Elsa Eats
by Elsa Lee
1y ago
A look at kue lapis and layer cakes in Asia Kue/kueh/kuih lapis is an Indonesian sweet snack popular in Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, Myanmar/Burma, and Suriname. It’s made using rice flour, tapioca flour, coconut milk, sugar, salt, and food colouring. Photo by Basile Bedelek on Unsplash The lapis portion of the name is Indonesian and Malay for ‘layers’. This is, of course, because the snack has many layers. The word kue takes its name from the Chaozhou/Teochew (潮州) Chinese pronunciation of the character/word 粿, a steamed rice cake. It is thought that the layer cakes in Asia became popular via ..read more
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Chinese dishes to order – Part 1
Elsa Eats
by Elsa Lee
2y ago
Chinese dishes to order which aren’t sweet and sour chicken. So most people know that the Chinese food you get from a standard British Chinese takeaway is basically a version of Chinese food which was created to adapt to the palates of British people at the time. None of it is really stuff that British Chinese people traditionally ate at home, although that’s not to say that I don’t enjoy a sweet and sour chicken from time to time. Here, I thought I’ll go through some of my favourite dishes which you can order the next time you go to a Chinese restaurant. This is mainly focused on Cantonese co ..read more
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Interview with Lorcán Kan
Elsa Eats
by Elsa Lee
2y ago
Lorcán Kan is a former chef from Stockport’s famous Where The Light Gets In, but I actually came across him via the world of Instagram and became intrigued by his ability to create fusion food utilising local ingredients. His personal project, Thing Palace, was a tribute to this, as well as instilling that hawker vibe I loved about East and South East Asia. Here, I catch up with him before his planned move back to Melbourne You’ve had quite an international upbringing. Tell me about yourself and how you ended up in Manchester of all places? Yeah, it’s pretty mixed. So I was born in Donegal i ..read more
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Katsu is not a sauce
Elsa Eats
by Elsa Lee
2y ago
Katsu is not a sauce. So what is katsu? We look into what the word means presently in the UK and how it came to Japan. Katsu is not a sauce Katsu is not a sauce. This is a common thought which seems to be concentrated within the UK itself. Australians and Americans do not make this mistake, so I’m not sure how it initially occurred within these shores. I largely put it down to bad marketing as it seems every time a Japanese curry sauce is advertised, it defaults to the term “katsu sauce”. What is katsu? Vegetable Katsu with Japanese curry and rice, from Osaka Local Katsu (カツ) is simply the sh ..read more
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#AD / Purezza in Northern Quarter, Manchester
Elsa Eats
by Elsa Lee
2y ago
Purezza has arrived in Northern Quarter, Manchester taking the spot of the old Dough Pizza Kitchen site. Manchester is their third location outside their home in Brighton & Hove, with Camden in London and Bristol housing the others. The restaurant is entirely vegan and soy-free with a majority of their items gluten-free or with gluten-free options. Dogs are welcome to visit too! The Interior Purezza in Manchester has a navy blue and dusty pink colour scheme that I really like. Wood, exposed brickwork and some metal details add to this, along with plenty of plants. It’s comfy and welco ..read more
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#AD / Interview with Foodstuff
Elsa Eats
by Elsa Lee
2y ago
Foodstuff is a business which recently launched in Manchester. Their focus is on supporting independent eateries whilst providing greener ways of delivering and paying employees a National Living Wage. During July, you get free delivery on orders Mon-Wed 11:30-2pm! You can also get 15% off on one of your meals by using the code FEEDME15. Read my interview with Foodstuff’s city manager for Manchester, Nok Vickers, and discover more about this amazing business. The interview with Foodstuff Who are the founders of Foodstuff and how did it start up? Founders Toby Savill and James Perry were frien ..read more
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Balanced eating: My British Chinese perspective
Elsa Eats
by Elsa Lee
2y ago
Balanced eating means different things to different people. For me, it’s just what I call my own eating habits. This has been influenced by my cultural roots as well as where I grew up and probably my own preference for sweet foods. This post is more just thoughts I’m just going to throw down into words. Hopefully, you’ll find this interesting. Penchant for vegetables I’ve always liked vegetables since I was a child. I was never a picky eater and if anything, I couldn’t understand why the other kids in primary school would pick out the mushrooms and the carrots from their plate in the school c ..read more
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Where to recycle your plastic packaging
Elsa Eats
by Elsa Lee
3y ago
Do you know there are plenty of places to recycle plastic? Sustainability and recycling is something that everyone should care about, but often it’s hard to find information. This post aims to promote recycling initiatives available nationwide. How does Terracycle work? Terracycle works on the basis that they supply boxes to you, they get filled up and then you return the box to them for recycling. Many of the boxes come at a cost (processing items does cost money!), but there are a limited number of free recycling programmes which are usually funded by larger companies. You can sign up for yo ..read more
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Coconut Sago / Tapioca (西米露) recipe
Elsa Eats
by Elsa Lee
3y ago
Coconut sago is a soup dessert popular within my parent’s Hong Kong cultural background. The concept of a soup dessert might be alien to many, but there is so many in Cantonese cuisine and the coconut sago is easily one of my favourites as a child. The dish is also popular in Myanmar and Thailand, where some say it originated. Not heard of sago? It’s basically a starch that’s harvested from the pith of palm stems. You can alternatively use tapioca pearls instead of sago. These are made from cassava starch instead of palm starch. You can buy packets of these in Asian supermarkets. They appear a ..read more
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